ABSTRACT
Even before the refugee crisis, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz Party were vocal about the dangers of “economic migrants” coming into the country. Despite this hostile anti-immigration position, one migrant group seems to have been relatively excluded from public rhetoric: the Chinese. This omission is surprising since, arguably, the Chinese are often the very definition of economic migrants. What explains this exclusion? In this chapter, I offer three possible explanations. The first is about the historical relationship between the Chinese and the Hungarians. The second focuses on Chinese community-specific characteristics – i.e., a reputation as “model minorities.” The third looks at the economic relationship between China and Hungary. Using original survey data, I find no evidence to support the first two explanations. Instead, it seems the Chinese diaspora is simply a political instrument in a larger economic game between Beijing and Budapest.
